Wednesday, May 28, 2003By LINDSAY ACKERMANFor
the young men and women who grasped high school diplomas during last week's
commencement exercises, the moment was a culmination of 13 years of work.

For Zay Reynolds, it was the
culmination of a 37-year career of shaping those young lives, as she said
goodbye to the final graduating class under her care before retiring as
East Grand Rapids High School's director of guidance in June.

"I'm not sure if reality has
really hit, but everything I'm feeling so far is good," said Reynolds before
commencement. "Graduation will be a very special moment because this senior
class was in kindergarten when I came to the district, so I've been there
for their entire school career thus far."

High school media center director
Peg Howard says she was once one of those teenagers who were impacted by
Reynolds. Howard first met Reynolds 20 years ago at a leadership conference
in the Lansing area when Howard was just 16 years old.

"I knew even as a kid that Zay
was the person to go to if you wanted to know something," said Howard.
"Then several years later when I went for an interview for my first teaching
job out of college, there was Zay, advocating for me."

A few years later, when Reynolds
moved from the rural Ovid-Elsie school district to East Grand Rapids, Howard
soon followed, starting as an English teacher and later moving into her
current position in the media center.

"She's been an outstanding professional
role model for me," Howard said.

Reynolds said her perspective
has changed tremendously since she first embarked on her career 37 years
ago in Kalamazoo Public Schools, where one of her jobs was crisis counselor
during the years of desegregation.

"I started there right out of
college, na? as I could be," she said.

After 10 years in Kalamazoo,
Reynolds took a position in the Ovid-Elsie district, where just 30 percent
of high school graduates were moving on to college.

"At the time, graduates either
went to work on family farms or into the automobile factories, but those
jobs were disappearing," she said. "By the time I left in 1991, about 80
percent of students were going to college."

Increasing the number of college-bound
students wasn't a challenge Reynolds faced when she came to East Grand
Rapids High School, where the tradition of post-secondary education was
strong.

"I came in thinking I needed
to increase the students' opportunities, and then that first summer I was
hearing students talk about backpacking through Alaska and traveling to
Europe, and I realized that wasn't something I would have to worry about,"
she said.

Instead Reynolds worked to streamline
the way the guidance office functioned in the school. She instituted a
rotation that allowed counselors to work with the same class of students
through their entire high school career.

"I had just hired Larry Fisher,
and I thought, how could you hire a young guy so full of energy and not
let him ever work with seniors?" she recalled.

She says one of the biggest changes
under her leadership has been the development of a guidance curriculum
that extends past her office and into the classrooms.

"Everyone knows what should be
happening at each grade level and the teachers buy into it," she said.
"My goal was to be able to walk away and not have all this knowledge go
with me. It is concrete."

During her tenure at East Grand
Rapids High School, Reynolds has also worked to raise the profile of the
school on the national college scene. Next year West Michigan will be the
venue for a national college fair for the first time ever.

"This will really put West Michigan
on the map," she said. "In the past, colleges would come to Michigan and
they'd just go to the Detroit area."

Principal Pat Cwayna credits
Reynolds with that higher profile. Last week he surprised Reynolds by presenting
her with the Principal's Award at the school's honors assembly.

"Zay is known as an expert in
college admissions and had gained a tremendous amount of respect throughout
the country," he said. "She was always keeping the high academic standards
in the forefront of our decisions here and we're going to miss her."

Reynolds said the advent of retirement
would be a chance for her to "catch her breath," as well as do some traveling
and spend more time with her husband of 34 years, Walt.

Before she hangs up her hat,
Reynolds plans to put in one more summer at Harvard, where she has taught
other guidance counselors for the past several years. Then, instead of
rushing back to East Grand Rapids for the beginning of a new school year,
she'll get to do something she's always dreamed of.

"I love New England but I've
never been able to see the fall foliage," she said.

Reynolds said she expected to
keep the tissues close at hand during commencement.

"I've always loved watching a
kid cross the stage and know that I had something to do with where they
are going next," she said. "It's a great way to go out."

Retiring
guidance counselor'put EGR on the map'

Zay Reynolds is retiring after
12 yearsat East Grand Rapids High School.

by Juanita Westaby, The Grand
Rapids Press (May 22, 2003)

In 10 years of teaching other
high school counselors at Harvard, Zay Reynolds has never gotten to stay
long enough to see the New England fall foliage.

She always had to rush back to
her job as director of guidance at East Grand Rapids High School.

This summer, she'll get to go
to her usual teaching stint, but she won't have to hurry.

After 12 years at East, nearly
15 years at Ovid-Elsie schools in the Lansing area and nearly 11 years
at Kalamazoo Public Schools, Reynolds is retiring at the end of this school
year.

A reception will be held for
her from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the lobby of the Performing Arts
Center.

Her gain will be the school's
loss, said Principal Patrick Cwayna. "Her high academic standards
were something she held onto," he said. "She was always encouraging,
promoting and demanding her students stay in a rigorous schedule, when
they didn't want to.

"She has a vast knowledge of
colleges," Cwayna said.

Reynolds "really plugged kids
into the best kind of opportunity for them," said Peg Howard, the high
school media specialist who met Reynolds 20 years ago as a high school
student herself.

It's all just a bit too much
hoopla for Reynolds, who colleagues say tends to be quiet and thoughtful.

"The emotional part hasn't hit
me yet," she said, although she expects the goodbye party to get to her.
"It's not my comfort zone."

When Cwayna started getting calls
from around the state, asking for some kind of formal farewell, he persuaded
her to do it.

Reynolds' background at Kalamazoo
included crisis counseling for children going through desegregation.
At Ovid-Elsie, it included scores of first-generation college students
when family farms were sold and factory jobs disappeared. So East Grand
Rapids was a completely different sort of job.

"I remember that first summer
here," she said. "Because it was a community school, students stopped
by. My job had been to open kids' eyes to possibilities and opportunities,
and very quickly I began to see I wouldn't have to do that here."

The students told her about trips
they were taking to France and backpacking trips out west. "I thought,
'Oh
my goodness. This is a completely different clientele,' " she said.

Working with students who have
more privilege demanded a different set of tactics, although still focused
on the student. Reynolds gained a reputation for helping get children into
Ivy League schools.

That's one of the reasons she
ended up at Harvard, teaching counselors, mainly at private schools, how
to do the same thing.

"What I bring to the (Harvard)
Institute is the reality of the job," she said. This will be her last summer
there also, because, "I feel l'll bring less credibility to the Institute
once I'm no longer in the job."

She also is finishing her three-year
term as president of the Michigan Association for College Admissions Counseling.

She always advocated that, as
much as teachers knew their students, counselors had to know the students
very well, too. At the same time, they had to act as liaisons between colleges
and the student.

The real job is "helping colleges
understand the framework the student had (in high school)," she said.
"The counselor is the wide-angle lens of how this student is in the context
of the school."

Reynolds, 58, will have more
time for her husband, Walt, in her retirement, but that situation may not
last for long. She's been approached about teaching at the college level
and working as a consultant for the State Board of Education.

Her name won't fade, Howard said.

The story filtered back to Howard
how an Ivy League college president heard the name East Grand Rapids and
asked if that wasn't the place where Zay Reynolds worked.

"How many Ivy League schools
can remember who your guidance counselor is?" Howard said. "She put East
Grand Rapids on the map."

Retiring Faculty: Mrs. Reynolds

At this time I would like to
ask Mrs. Reynolds to please join us at the podium.

For twelve years, Mrs. Reynolds
has dedicated herself to East Grand Rapids High School. She has worked
closely with over 2500 students at East over the years. Her work allows
her to personally know each and every student. From college applications
she gets to know students on a personal level, witnessing a rare perspective
that few other people see. This year alone she worked with a record-number
of eight-hundred and eighty-eight applications by the Class of

2003.

Mrs. Reynolds’ level of dedication
is incredible. During the college application process, she stayed long
after the school day ended putting together applications and writing thoughtful
and personal recommendations for every single student. Her extreme dedication
isn’t only reflected through the numbers. Her incredible work as a guidance
counselor is reflected through her noteriety across the nation. Every summer
Mrs. Reynolds leads a seminar at Harvard University teaching others about
her work. Even when I visited a small college in Maine hundreds of miles
away, the admissions counselors knew very well of Mrs. Reynolds for she
is well known amongst several admissions circles.

Mrs. Reynold’s dedication and
love for her job is remarkable and inspiring. Thank you for all you have
done for our Class during our run at East Grand Rapids High School. You
are and will always be admired, loved, and honored and we welcome you as
an honorary member of the Class of 2003.

Time to Retire or Time to
Play

M. Zay Reynolds has worked around
the state,As counsellors often do.From Ovid-Elsie, she came to
us.Before that? Kalamazoo.

But who ever had heard of Ovid-Elsie?To Zay, what gifts could they
endow?Ovid- Wasn’t he an ancient Roman
poet?Elsie- Wasn’t she the Borden
Cow?

She came to East Grand Rapidsknowing all about state schools.But found out at her new jobThat we played by different
rules.

So, off she went that summer
to discover,Out of state colleges, in order
to pleaseThe students and their parents
by knowingthat Colby is more than just
cheese.

She showed soon after she got
herethat she in fact was no coward.By convincing Pat it would be
a good thingfor him to hire Howard.

Zay arrived a bit after Evelyn
Yeagle,A legend while she was here.And had to deal with many folksWho followed that one who was
dear.

But she revitalized the counselling
centerand really made it her own,although it was interesting
bringing in Larry and Glen,because they mostly just talk
on the phone.

Zay has created a name for herselfby always helping students out.She gives great advice and listens
well,And knows what each kid is about.

But now her transition time has
come.She’ll travel a bit and play.She’ll get some quality time
with Walter,And will go back to work some
day.

She is young enough to enjoy
this time,and we know she deserves it
well.And she will know best if the
time ever comeswhen again she will answer the
bell.

So when Zay walks out this door
in a couple of weeks,we know we’ll be losing a gem.So the only question that remains
to be asked isWhat in the world is that M?

good luck,

Leo 5/27/03

Zay & Walt's son and daughter-in-law
with Walt & Zay

With my secretary who had badgered
Hickman High School all the wayup to Jim Ritter, current superintendent,
who granted me a Hickman diploma.In the pictures she is telling
everyone about the fact that I never graduatedfrom high school - and that as
of that date I was a high school graduate.

with high school principalwith
district assistant superintendent

Zay and
I met at the College Board Midwest regional meeting in February of 1992.
She was replacing the legendary Evelyn Yaegal at East Grand Rapids and
I was replacing the legendary Jane Koten at Glenbrook South high school.
I knew instantly that Zay and I would be friends, not because we had hard
acts to follow, but because we both wanted to work hard and make programs
that were good become even better. And that is exactly what Zay has done.

Zay and I have been traveling
to conferences and college visits together for the past 11 years. There
was never a visit that she didn’t spend time talking with an admission
professional, asking more probing questions, making sure she was getting
information to bring back to her staff, students and families. She would
then give her business card to make sure that people knew who she was and
that she was from East Grand Rapids high school - a place she was clearly
proud to represent. I was always happy to be with Zay because she commanded
respect wherever we went and took copious notes at every session. I used
to tease Zay and tell her that she was “the most organized human on the
planet” and that was true, but she was also the most professional because
of her skills as an educator and as an adniin~strator.

When complimented on a job well
done, Zay smiles and says “thank you” but is never looking to be in the
limelight. She is the backbone of a job that is not just done well, but
is done exceptionally well. Zay would never put a signature on something
that wasn’t done without research, care and the best interest of her students
at heart.

I know East Grand Rapids high
school prides itself on hiring the best — you certainly did that when you
hired Zay Reynolds. She took a good guidance department and built it into
a great guidance department. I know that I, along with all of you will
miss her grace, her wisdom, her dry sense of humor, her demand fo~ expecting
the best because that’s what she gives every day and her Irienusilip —
which is what I will miss the most.